


Dice and Other Distractions

by orphan_account, zecretsantamods



Category: Zero Escape (Video Games)
Genre: Dungeons and Dragons, Gen, In which the author reveals themself to be a complete nerd, Zecret Santa 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-13 20:24:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12991845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account, https://archiveofourown.org/users/zecretsantamods/pseuds/zecretsantamods
Summary: Eric pulls Mira into a game of Dungeons and DragonsWritten for Zecret Santa 2017. Happy holidays!





	Dice and Other Distractions

**Author's Note:**

  * For [deathdesu](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=deathdesu).



> Written for as a gift for deathdesu, in response to their prompt "Eric drawing Mira into nerdy hobbies. Cosplay, or even something like tabletop RPGs that she might enjoy thanks to her bookishness. Bonus points for having Carlos, Junpei or Diana in on it too."  
> Thanks for giving me an opportunity to geek out about dnd

“So the thing is,” Eric said, running his hands through his hair as he addressed the table, “I’ve been trying to find something to keep Mira occupied since she can’t go out much anymore ever since I, uh, broke her out.” His voice tapered off, wavering at the last few words. “But then I found this article about how playing games like Dungeons and Dragons can help people work out their feelings in a, a non-violent manner.” He laughed nervously. “And I remember playing some games in high school, so I think it would be fun.”

“Okay, and?” Junpei said from across the table. Officially they were all there to work on preventing the destruction that Delta had predicted, but they had gotten off topic a while ago.

“Well, right now with me, Sean, and Mira, we don’t have enough people to play a game, so I was hoping that someone else would play with us.” Eric cast his eyes around the room. Akane and her brother, who always seemed to show up at these meetings, were speaking quietly in Japanese and seemed to have missed most of what he had been saying. Carlos was looking on with the serious concentration he always had when someone else was speaking, but he had yet to say anything. The rest were looking on with varying levels of boredom. Phi had her head nestled in her folded arms and looked to to be asleep.

“Yo, Phido,” Sigma nudged her with his elbow, “you play Dungeons and Dragons, right?”

Phi whipped her head up so fast that it turned into a white blur. “Who’s playing Dungeons and Dragons.”

“Uh, I am?”Eric raised his hand awkwardly. “I need another person so that I can play with Mira and Sean.”

“What edition are you using, sixth or fifth? Or are you using a totally different system? I’m not super fond of Fate, but I really like Blades in the Dark, and I’ve played some good games of The Sprawl, and Apocalypse World is always fun.” 

“I- what?” Eric shook his head. “I don’t know what half of that means. I’ve only ever played Dungeons and Dragons, and I wanted to do a campaign for Mira.”

“Oh, okay.” She bounced up and down in her seat a little. “Do you have a campaign planned out? Because I have a couple of ideas for ones that I want to run, if you don’t already have something planned out.”

Eric shrugged. “Not really. Do you want to-? I mean, you don’t have to, it just seems like you want to.”

“Yeah, I’ll be the DM!” Phi said, a little too quickly. “Sorry, it’s just that I haven’t played a game since I graduated college and started saving the world full time.”

“I think we could all use a game like this as a break,” Diana pipes in. “I mean, I’ve never played before, but it seems like it could be fun.”

“As long as Mira can play, I guess people can join in,” Eric said. “Does anyone else want to play?”

“Sorry, I think I’m too busy,” Junpei says, turning to join Akane and Aoi in their conversation. 

“I can try to see if I have time,” Carlos said, running his hand sheepishly through his hair. “I played once or twice when I was younger, but my life’s been a bit hectic since then.”

“Okay, anyone else?” Phi looked around the room, but the rest seemed uninterested. “Nope? Alright. I expect character sheets on my desk by Monday.”

“What character sheet?” Diana said at the same time as Eric said “You don’t have a desk.”

“I’ll send everybody links to stuff you can use,” Phi said, gathering up her things. “I gotta start planning.” Then she scurried out of the room too quickly for anyone to follow.

“I’m the one who drove her here,” Diana said as Phi disappeared from sight. “She can’t go home without me. I have no idea where she’s going”

 

*

 

“Hmm,” Mira said, flipping through the handbook. “So playing as certain races can give you an advantage in certain other classes. Interesting.”

“Yeah,” Eric leaned into her as she read. “Some people don’t really care about those connections, since they think that it makes characters too stereotypical, but most of them make sense to me.”

“That’s stupid of them.” Mira shook her head. “It makes perfect sense for me to play an orc fighter. An orc’s strength will give me the extra power that I need in combat.”

“Oh, really?” Eric laughed. “I thought you would have chosen something pretty, like, like an elf!”

“No, that wouldn’t work for what I want to do.” She turned to look at Sean, who was filling out his sheet sprawled across the living room floor. “What about you, Sean? What kind of character are you going to play?”

“A gnome!” He turned his head and smiled. Sigma had made him a temporary head while he worked on developing ABT, and while it was more realistic than a big sphere, there was a plastic quality to the skin that made it obvious that he wasn’t human. “They’re going to be a wizard. I’m working on making a backstory now.”

Eric shifted in his seat. “Are you sure you want to play a wizard? I’ve heard that it’s sometimes hard for beginners to play magical classes.”

“I’ve already downloaded the entire spellbook, players handbook, and several other supplementary materials to my hard drive.” Sean said. “I think that as long as we stick to the rules I should be okay.”

“Oh, right,” Eric said, “I forgot that you can do that.”

“What kind of character are you playing, Eric?” Sean chirped.

“Oh, I, uh. I got so excited about you guys making your characters that I forgot to think about mine.” 

He picked up the handbook and flipped through it, although he already knew most of the basics. When he was younger he would usually play a fighter, but Mira already had that covered. He should play a character that could protect her, maybe one with healing powers, that would be nice.

“I think I’ll be a paladin.” He said, resolve hardening his voice.

“And for the race?” Mira asked.

“Human,” he said, then again with more certainty. “Human.”

 

*

 

“So, does everyone have their dice?” There was some fumbling and rattling. “Character sheets?” Papers rustled. “Wizard hats?”

“You never said-”

“It was a joke Carlos.”

“Oh. Right.”

They were crowded around the kitchen table in Eric and Mira’s house, almost elbow to elbow, excluding Phi, who was seated at the head of the table and hidden behind several propped-up binders. Mira and Eric had decided to host the gathering because it was risky for Mira to be seen in public after she had been broken out of jail, but this was more people than they were used to having over at once. Sean was sitting with his knees pulled up to his chest in an armchair that they had pulled in from the living room.

“Okay.” Phi clapped her hands together. “Let’s get this party started. First, I want everyone to introduce their characters. Eric, since all of this was your idea, you can start.”

“That’s not how that works!” Eric snipped.

“Yes it is. C’mon, you’re going to have to do it eventually.”

“Fine.” He took a deep breath. “My character is a human paladin named Alexander. He fights to protect his friends, and he isn’t afraid to die for a cause.”

“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Phi smirked. “Okay. Mira, your turn.”

“My character is a fighter named Mab the Bloody.” Mira shrugged. “She’s an orc and she likes to punch stuff.”

“Cool. Sean?”

“My character is named Lenny Littlefoot!” Sean smiled and gestured with his character sheet. “They’re a wizard and a gnome, and they’re really excited to go on an adventure, even though they’re afraid of monsters.”

“Oh buddy am I going to use that against you.” Before Sean could respond, Phi turned again. “Diana! Your turn!”

“Oh!” Diana jumped a bit. “I’m playing an elf druid named Iris. She, uh, she likes birds? I don’t know what else to say.”

“That’s good enough. Last but not least.” Phi took a moment to pause dramatically. “Carlos!”

“I,” Carlos said, dropping his voice until it was comically low, “am playing Throckmorton, a dwarf, a rogue, and a general good-for-nothing.”

“If you establish that as your character voice, I  _ will _ make you use it for the entire campaign.” Phi laughed.

“Challenge accepted,” Carlos rumbled.

“Alright.” Phi looked around the table. “Is everyone ready?”

The group nodded, expectant.

“Excellent.” She cracked her fingers louder than was necessary. “The five of you have been called to the town of Windport….”

 

*

 

“The fire giant roars as you approach, letting out a burst of flame. He knows that you’re here, and he is not happy. What do you do?”

They had been playing for what felt like years now, although in reality it was more like months, on and off as schedule conflicts delayed games. They were supposed to be saving the world, after all.

All of their hard work had come down to this. The evil king was deposed, and all that remained was the giant that he had summoned. If they won this fight, the kingdom would be free.

“I want to charge in and attack him.” Mira’s face was set, almost bored. 

“Are you sure?” Phi asked. Mira nodded. “Alright then. Normally I would make you roll for initiative, but it’s pretty clear that you’re making the first move. Are you just hitting him with your sword, or-?”

“I’m just hitting him with my sword.”

“Alright then. Roll a d20 plus your strength modifier, which is,” she flipped through some papers, “five. Go ahead.”

The die clattered on the hard wood of the table, coming to rest nearly at the center. All around the table, the players leaned in to see what it said.

“Oh jeez,” Carlos winced. Diana bit her lip

“Well,” Phi said, “that’s a one. Okay, so you charge forward, sword raised high, but the thing is that your sword is just metal, and your armor is metal, and all the coins and jewelry that you’ve picked up is metal. And metal melts. The giant takes a deep breath, and you can see waves of heat rolling off of him. He rears back-”

“Wait!” Eric holds out a hand, desperate. “I want to jump in front of her and cast Shield of Faith.”

“Okay, but just so you know, if you fail, both of you are toast, and I mean that literally.” Phi sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “That’s another d20, plus your spellcasting modifier, which is four. Go for it.”

Eric rolled the die between his palms, trying to channel any bit of luck he had into the little piece of plastic. It bounced on the table and landed in front of Mira.

“It’s a 20.” A smile pulled at the corner of Mira’s lips

Phi shook her head. “There’s no way.”

“Come over here and look if you don’t believe me, but it’s true. Eric rolled a critical hit.”

“No, I believe you.” Phi took a deep breath. “So the spell radiates out from your holy symbol which, may I remind you, is a literal shield. It covers the whole part just in time to protect them from a burst of flame that sets the trees around you on fire. All of you are alive. I can’t believe that you managed to pull that off.”

“I did it!” Eric grasped Mira’s hand and grinned. “Mira, I saved you!”

“Technically you saved Mab the Bloody,” Mira smiled, “but yeah, you did. Thank you.”

“You guys know that you still have to get through the rest of the encounter, right?” Phi said.

“Yeah, but at least we got through this.” Eric squeezed Mira’s hand. “We got this far.”

**Author's Note:**

> The study that I referenced at the beginning is a real thing! You can read about it here: https://kotaku.com/therapists-are-using-dungeons-dragons-to-get-kids-to-1794806159?utm_medium=sharefromsite&utm_source=Kotaku_facebook


End file.
